The Squid's Ear Magazine


Wollesen - Haffner - Naujo: Rasa Rasa (Tzadik)

Rasa Rasa members Kenny Wollesen, Dalius Naujo, Jonathon Haffner and Sean Francis Conway present the ancient polyphonic vocal music of Lithuania using a mix of ensembles, reviving the infectious grooves and ancient vocal rounds, aided by new instruments devised by Wollesen.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Doug Wieselman-Tenor Saxophone, Guitar

Kenny Wollesen-Wollesonics, Percussion, Bass Drum

Sean Francis Conway-Trumpet, Wollesonics, Piano

Laima Griciute-Cosmic Manager

Jonathon Haffner-Alto Saxophone, Guitar

Michael Irwin-Trumpet

Lana Is-Voice

Aaron Keane-Bass

Tim Kieper-Percussion, Wollesonics

Kriste Krupovisovaite-Voice

Milda Lau ikaite-Voice, Wollesonics

Panagiotis Mavridis-Panaphone

Dalius Naujokaitis-Drums, Wollesonics, Percussion

Eivind Opsvik-Bass

ivile Rim aite-Voice

Lina Saveikyte-Voice

Agota Zdanaviciute-Voice

Dorote Zdanaviciute-Voice

Giuseppe Zevola-Voice


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 702397400523

Label: Tzadik
Catalog ID: TZA-CD-4005
Squidco Product Code: 19841

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2014
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack - 3 panel
Recorded February 9 & 17, 2014 and mixed by Marc Urselli at EastSide Sound, NYC.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"For their first Tzadik release Rasa Rasa members Kenny Wollesen, Dalius Naujo, Jonathon Haffner and Sean Francis Conway have arranged the ancient polyphonic vocal music of Lithuania using a variety of ensembles and the result is an entirely new musical world. Charming, infective grooves, imaginative arrange- ments and ancient vocal rounds featuring six Lithuanian singers, brand new Wollesonic instruments and Neapolitian poet Giuseppe Zevola blend together in this fabulous new project."-Tzadik


Artist Biographies

"Douglas Joel Wieselman (born November 30, 1954, Los Angeles) is an American jazz reedist. He plays primarily clarinet and tenor saxophone, though he occasionally also plays soprano and baritone saxophone.

Wieselman took a bachelor's degree in music at University of California-Santa Cruz in 1976, where he first played with Wayne Horvitz; he played with Horvitz extensively into the 1990s. In 1982 he began working with Robin Holcomb, and played with her again from 1987 to 1996. In the late 1980s he also worked with Bill Frisell, Guy Klucevsek, and Anthony Coleman. He started his own group, the Kamikaze Ground Crew, in 1983, with Gina Leishman, and also co-founded the New York Composer's Orchestra in 1986. Other credits include work with Karen Mantler, Nels Cline, Ben Perowsky, and others.

In addition to his work in jazz, Wieselman has also written music for the performances of the Flying Karamazov Brothers and played as a session musician for pop and rock acts such as She & Him, Cibo Matto, Antony & the Johnsons, Joan As Police Woman, Iron and Wine, Lou Reed, Yo la Tengo, Martha Wainwright, Shudder To Think, Translator (band) and others. He was also a lead composer on The Backyardigans, from which his song 'Castaways' became a viral hit in 2021."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Wieselman)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Kenny Wollesen (born 1966) is an American drummer and percussionist.

Wollesen lives in New York City. He has recorded and toured with Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, John Lurie, Myra Melford, Steven Bernstein, and John Zorn. He is a founding member of the New Klezmer Trio and a member of the Sex Mob and Himalayas groups. He also performs on the soundtrack to the popular children's show The Backyardigans.

Kenny grew up in Capitola, CA, studying at Aptos HS and spent many teenage years jamming with Donny McCaslin. He spent quality classroom time with flugelhornist and arranger Ray Brown at Cabrillo College. Kenny also arranges and studied vibraphone at Cabrillo."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Wollesen)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Jonathon Haffner was raised in Southern California where he began playing saxophone at an early age. While in California Jonathon began studying saxophone with Phil Sobel.

Since moving to New York City Jonathon has performed/recorded with Butch Morris, Kenny Wollesen, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Steven Bernstein, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Uri Caine, Jim Black, Eddie Henderson, Chris Potter, Sex Mob, Cindi Lauper, Jesse Harris, Brazilian Girls, Brian Blade, Graham Haynes, Jonas Mekas, The Nublu Orchestra, Ilhan Ersahin, Elliott Sharp, Art Baron, David Binney, Rickie Lee Jones and Red Baraat

Jonathon also co-lead the group 'Himalayas' with drummer Kenny Wollesen, and performed in the ensemble 'Now We Are Here' which is led by filmmaker Jonas Mekas."

-Jonathon Haffner Website (http://www.jonathonhaffner.com/bio)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Born in Oslo, bassist and composer Eivind Opsvik was introduced to music at home. His father loved to play the saxophone and constantly spun records-everything from Ornette Coleman to Billie Holiday and The Beatles. An early memory features Eivind on drums, jamming out "A Hard Day's Night" with his father. Later, a denim-clad rocker cousin lent him a bass guitar and the newfound ability of adding pitch to rhythm was a revelation. Opsvik spent the rest of his teens getting to know this instrument, as well as the double bass, while also experimenting with a 4-track tape recorder and pouring music into his head.

At the age of twenty, Opsvik began studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music, focusing on classical bass. By then, he was already an active participant in Oslo's vibrant jazz scene, regularly playing with musicians like Paal Nilssen-Love, Christian Wallumrød, Bjørnar Andresen, and Håkon Kornstad; while also performing at festivals and clubs around Europe.

In 1998, Opsvik relocated to New York City, where he has thrived as a working musician, collaborating on projects with among others Anthony Braxton, Paul Motian, John Zorn, Nate Wooley, and Bill Frisell and performing in a wide range of venues like Carnegie Hall, Village Vanguard, Le Poisson Rouge and The Stone. At the Manhattan School of Music he studied jazz and met some of his closest musical brothers, including Loren Stillman, Jeff Davis, and Jacob Sacks. Building on the bonds and shared musical understanding that developed while at school, Eivind invited these players to help him fulfill his vision for the solo project, Overseas.

Opsvik has stated that "overseas" is a fitting way of describing his life-whether in New York or Norway, he is always an ocean's distance from home. This deep loyalty towards friends and loved ones has, over time, been reflected in Overseas' various lineups. The first record was realized with the help of long-term friendships that went back to Opsvik's earliest days in New York. As he continued his journey through the city via late night gigs, Opsvik connected with other players-visionaries versed in noise improv, electronic, jazz, and classical-who, on subsequent Overseas records, were brought in to augment the lineup. Since 2005, the band has remained consistent, featuring Tony Malaby, Jacob Sacks, and Kenny Wollesen; in 2010, guitarist Brandon Seabrook also became a regular member. Over the years, they have played countless shows around New York City, as well as extensively toured Europe and the American east coast.

In addition to four Overseas albums and his extensive session work, Opsvik's discography also includes four experimental chamber-pop records made in collaboration with songwriter Aaron Jennings (under the moniker of Opsvik & Jennings) and a multimedia project with photographer Michelle Arcila, which pairs tens songs with ten photographic prints. This project, titled A Thousand Ancestors, came out of Opsvik's solo double bass performances, which sometimes featured projections of Arcila's photographs. In recording these bass-centric pieces, he would layer bass with subtle overdubs of lap steel guitar, vintage keyboards, and drum machines, with Arcila's prints displayed around the studio. The project proved to be an auspicious collaboration for the couple, who, as The New York Times put it, "share an aesthetic of haunting introspection, and the desire to seek out beauty in austerity."

Other critics have described Opsvik's work as "sonorous," "like a waking dream," and able "to transport the listener to another time and place, creating a cinematic experience...[like] the soundtrack to an imaginary film." His Overseas records create "a world of unfolding soundscapes" that defy categorization; they have "a compositional complexity that suggests jazz, [but] also references a diverse and imaginative palette of genres and influences." Opsvik's jazz is "the slow burn, down-turned variety that still has plenty of beauty underneath all of its darker undertones." But it's not just jazz for jazz-heads. By tapping into the energy, groove, and directness of rock, Opsvik reach people who are afraid of jazz and think they have to "understand" it.

Ultimately, Opsvik is the epitome of a multi-faceted, multi-instrumentalist working musician. While steadily playing gigs and recording sessions as a bass player, he is also a capable hand on the guitar, the keyboard, or behind the drums. At the Greenwood Underground, his basement studio, Opsvik records, mixes, and produces his own music, as well as various projects for his friends. Since 2007, he has also been running the Loyal Label, releasing a carefully curated catalog of albums, which run the gamut in terms of musical exploration but are all united with careful aesthetic choices and creative graphic design.

Maturing as a musician, Eivind never wanted to be up front in the band, but it would be incorrect to say he's been hiding. As a kid, watching bands perform on Norway's only TV channel, his gaze was instinctively drawn to the rhythm section, waiting for the camera to move the tight frame off the singer so that he could catch a glimpse of the bass player's steady hands or the drummer's hypnotic concentration. The rhythm section were the guys with their heads down doing the real work. Adolescent instincts are pure in that they don't know why they want what they want, but the quiet and focused dignity that Eivind honed in on has driven his life for the past 30 years.

(Eivind is currently a member of these bands/projects: Tony Malaby's Paloma Recio, Die Trommel Fatale, Nate Wooley Quintet, Skuli Sverrison's Seria, Two Miles A Day (Sacks, Maneri, Motian), Anthony Braxton's Tristano Project, Vinnie Sperrazza's Apocryphal, David Binney, Okkyung Lee, Jeff Davis Trio with Russ Lossing, Mary Halvorson's Reverse Blue, Plainville, Kris Davis' Capricorn Climber, Håkon Kornstad, Rocket Engine, Tone Collector, Jesse Harris' Cosmo, The Interaction of Non-Interaction (w Ben Gerstein), Poor Pluto ...and more)"

-Eivind Opsvik Website (http://eivindopsvik.com/)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Kadu Buva 4:10

2. Rasele 2:55

3. I Love My Friends 3:07

4. I Love My Mom 3:55

5. Dobilio 4:40

6. Liepa 2:51

7. Ti Ti Ti 3:10

8. Paisecia 3:43

9. Uosile 3:44

10. Augo Putins 2:27

11. Einu 6:22

12. Miezelis 3:35

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
NY Downtown & Jazz/Improv
Large Ensembles
Tzadik
Cultural Musics from Around the World
Unusual Vocal Forms
Song Based Music
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